Do blood phobia patients hyperventilate during exposure by breathing faster, deeper, or both?

One of the proven treatments for the treatment of blood phobia is cognitive behavioural therapy.  A common and effective element of this therapy is exposure therapy.  Exposure therapy is designed to introduce the patient with the phobia to the feared stimulus and engaging with it.  The patients learn that the fear is unfounded.

How patients respond when exposed to a fearful response helps to increase our understanding of what happens during rising panic.  The question the researchers asked was in regards to breathing during fearful exposure.  They concluded that it produced by excessively deep and irregular breathing.  They also proposed that this may contribute to the fainting response experienced by some during the fearful episode.

It may not be obvious to patients with blood phobia that they engage in behaviours that may lead to an outcome that they wish to avoid (fainting and loss of control).  The implications for treatment is that the patient needs to be made aware of their behaviour.  Inducing very deep and excessing breathing without a fearful stimulus will permit the patient to examine the physical responses without being distracted by a fearful response.

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